Management apparatus, control method, storage medium storing program, and system

ABSTRACT

A management apparatus includes a storage unit configured to store setting data for use in a device to be managed. For each type of the setting data, a limit value for the volume of the data to be stored in the storage unit is controlled based on management information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a management apparatus for managing adevice, a control method, a storage medium storing a program, and asystem.

Description of the Related Art

In the management of data, an upper limit for each type of data at whichmanagement is possible is held as a fixed value, and management isperformed until the number of pieces of data reaches a predeterminedvalue or the volume of data reaches a predetermined volume.Particularly, when it is not possible to increase the volume of datathat can be stored and the upper limit of the volume of data is fixed,management is performed with an upper limit for each type of data thatis set as a fixed value so that the entire data volume falls within anupper limit. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-326796 discloses thatsince management with an upper limit for each type of data that is setas a fixed value cannot flexibly deal with the usage status of a user,management is performed with an upper limit set for a plurality ofpieces of setting data together, improving the flexibility.

However, according to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-326796, theremay be a case where when pieces of setting data are associated with eachother, such as when registering one piece of setting data involvesregistering another piece of setting data, registration of the settingdata is impossible. In this case, inconsistency may occur between thepieces of setting data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An aspect of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentionedproblems with the conventional technology. The present inventionprovides a management apparatus, a control method, a storage mediumstoring a program, and a system that flexibly control limit values ofthe data volume of setting data and improve reliability of datamanagement.

The present invention in one aspect provides a management apparatus formanaging a device, comprising: a storage unit configured to storesetting data for use in the device to be managed; an acquisition unitconfigured to acquire management information relating to the settingdata, the management information being associated with each type of thesetting data; and a control unit configured to control, for each type ofthe setting data, a limit value for a volume of the data to be stored inthe storage unit based on the management information acquired by theacquisition unit.

According to the present invention, it is possible to flexibly controllimit values of the data volume of setting data, and improve thereliability of data management.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments with reference to theattached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a system.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a block configuration of a digitalmultifunction peripheral.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a block configuration of a datamanagement application.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a management table for managing thedata volume of setting data.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating required data sizes of the settingdata.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a management table for managing thedata volume of the setting data.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of processing for updating the data volume of thesetting data.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a management table for managing thedata volume of the setting data.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of processing for determining whether or not thesetting data is to be changed between “individual” and “shared”.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a management table for managing thedata volume of the setting data.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a management table for managing thedata volume of the setting data.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a management table for managing thedata volume of the setting data.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a management table for managing thedata volume of the setting data.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a management table for managing thedata volume of the setting data.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of processing for updating the lower limit ofpersonalized data.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a management table for managing thedata volume of the setting data.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of processing for updating the maximum registereddevice count.

FIGS. 18A and 18B are flowcharts of processing for checking whether ornot the setting data can be managed.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a management table for managing thedata volume of the setting data.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be describedhereinafter in detail, with reference to the accompanying drawings. Itis to be understood that the following embodiments are not intended tolimit the claims of the present invention, and that not all of thecombinations of the aspects that are described according to thefollowing embodiments are necessarily required with respect to the meansto solve the problems according to the present invention. Note that thesame reference numerals are given to the same constituent components,and descriptions thereof are omitted.

First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a system. In asystem 10, digital multifunction peripherals 110 a, 110 b, and 110 c,which are information processing devices, are connected to a network100, and are communicably connected to each other. In FIG. 1, threedigital multifunction peripherals are connected to each other as anexample, but the number of connected devices does not have to be 3. Inthe following, the digital multifunction peripherals 110 a, 110 b, and110 c may collectively be referred to simply as a digital multifunctionperipheral 110. The digital multifunction peripherals are so-called MFPs(multifunctional peripherals) in which a plurality of functions such asa printing function, a copy function, and a facsimile function areincorporated. The network 100 may be a wired network or a wirelessnetwork.

A server 120 for executing a server function is installed in the digitalmultifunction peripheral 110 a. The server 120 is capable ofcommunicating with the digital multifunction peripherals 110 via thenetwork 100. The server 120 stores and manages various types of settingdata of the digital multifunction peripherals 110. The setting data willbe described later.

When the setting data is changed by a user operation, execution ofcopy/facsimile, or the like, the digital multifunction peripheral 110transmits the content of the change to the server 120 and requests theserver 120 to update the data. Furthermore, the digital multifunctionperipheral 110 makes an inquiry regularly or as needed to the server 120as to whether or not the data that is managed by the server 120 has beenupdated, and if there is updated data, the digital multifunctionperipheral 110 acquires and stores the updated data.

For example, if the data that is managed by the server 120, such asaddress data of facsimile numbers in an address book for example, isshared by the digital multifunction peripherals 110 a and 110 b,communication processing of the address data will be performed asfollows. If the address data has been changed in the digitalmultifunction peripheral 110 a, the server 120 is notified of thechanged address data, and the address data that is managed by the server120 is updated. Then, when an inquiry from the digital multifunctionperipheral 110 b makes an inquiry to the server 120 as to whether or notthe data has been updated, the server 120 transmits the updated addressdata as the updated data to the digital multifunction peripheral 110 b.Upon receiving the updated address data, the digital multifunctionperipheral 110 b updates address data already stored in the digitalmultifunction peripheral 110 b, based on the updated address data.

Although in the description above, the server function is executed onthe digital multifunction peripheral 110 a, the server function mayoperate on another device such as another digital multifunctionperipheral or a PC. Furthermore, in the present embodiment,predetermined types of setting data are described as data to be managed,but the types of setting data are not particularly limited.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a block configuration of the digitalmultifunction peripheral 110. The digital multifunction peripheral 110includes a controller unit 200, an operation unit 220, a scanner 230,and a printer 240. The operation unit 220 is connected to the controllerunit 200, and the scanner 230, which is an image input device, and theprinter 240, which is an image output device, are also connected thecontroller unit 200.

The controller unit 200 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 202 forperforming overall control of the entire device. The CPU 202 boots up anoperating system (OS) using a boot program stored in a read only memory(ROM) 206. The controller unit 200 executes, on this OS, applicationprograms stored in a hard disk drive (HDD) 205 so as to execute varioustypes of processing. A random access memory (RAM) 203 is used as a workarea for the CPU 202. The HDD 205 stores the application programs andvarious types of data. The operation of the present embodiment isrealized by, for example, the CPU 202 reading the programs stored in theROM 206 and the HDD 205 onto the RAM 203 and executing them.

For example, the ROM 206, the RAM 203, an operation unit interface (I/F)201, a device I/F 204, a network I/F 207, an image processing unit 208are connected to the CPU 202 via a system bus 210.

The operation unit I/F 201 is an interface with the operation unit 220provided with a display unit such as a touch panel. The operation unitI/F 201 transmits information such as various types of setting data tobe displayed on the operation unit 220 to the operation unit 220,receives information input by a user operation from the operation unit220, and transmits the received information to the CPU 202. For example,the scanner 230 and the printer 240 are connected to the device I/F 204,and data and control signals are input and output via the device I/F204. The network I/F 207 is connected to the external network 100, andperforms communication with devices on the network 100 via the network100. The image processing unit 208 executes various types of processingon image data obtained by the scanner 230 optically reading an original,and executes various types of processing such as image rotation, imagecompression, resolution conversion, color space conversion, and toneconversion on image data, in order for the image data to be printed bythe printer 240.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a block configuration of a datamanagement application program (hereinafter, referred to simply as “datamanagement application”) for realizing the server function of the server120 operating on the digital multifunction peripheral 110 a. The datamanagement application 300 is stored in a storage unit of the RAM 203,the HDD 205, or the ROM 206, and is read and executed by the CPU 202.

The data management application 300 includes a transmission andreceiving unit 301, a control unit 302, an analysis unit 303, and a dataprocessing unit 304. The transmission and receiving unit 301 receives aprocessing request from a digital multifunction peripheral 110 via thenetwork I/F 207, and transmits a result as a response to the processingrequest. The control unit 302 performs overall control of the blocks ofthe data management application 300. The analysis unit 303 analyzes theprocessing request received by the transmission and receiving unit 301.The data processing unit 304 communicates with a data management unit310 in response to the processing request received by the transmissionand receiving unit 301, and executes generation, updating, deletion, orreference of data. Information and data that are managed by the datamanagement unit 310 are stored in a storage region such as the HDD 205or the RAM 203. The information and data that are managed by the datamanagement unit 310 include various types of setting data (describedlater), corresponding management information, the number of digitalmultifunction peripherals registered in the server 120, history ofchange in the number of registered digital multifunction peripherals,the past maximum number of registered digital multifunction peripherals,and the like.

The data management application 300 manages setting data of the digitalmultifunction peripheral 110. The setting data of the digitalmultifunction peripheral 110 includes, for example, “personalized data”,“device basic data”, “device specification data” and “device settingdata”. Furthermore, the setting data of the digital multifunctionperipheral 110 includes, for example, “one-touch address book data”,“general address book data”, “administrator address book data”, and“user information data”. “Personalized data” is user data, in which, forexample, a user of the digital multifunction peripheral 110 registers adisplay language, a shortcut button, and the like as user data. “Devicebasic data” is data relating to device information such as a deviceidentification number or the version of the digital multifunctionperipheral 110. “Device specification data” is data relating to anoperation specification of the device such as information indicatingwhether or not the digital multifunction peripheral 110 supports varioustypes of setting data, and information indicating a region supported bythe digital multifunction peripheral 110. “Device setting data” is datarelating to device setting of the digital multifunction peripheral 110such as network settings and printer operation settings. “One-touchaddress book data” is address data of a one-touch address book that isused in the digital multifunction peripheral 110. “General address bookdata” is address data in an address book that is used by a general user,in the digital multifunction peripheral 110. “Administrator address bookdata” is address data of an administrator-dedicated address book that isused by an administrator of the digital multifunction peripheral 110.“User information data” is data indicating information on users who canuse the digital multifunction peripheral 110.

The data management application 300 manages, for each type of settingdata, the volume of data currently managed by the data management unit310. Furthermore, the data management application 300 manages the upperlimit of the volume of data that can be managed by the data managementunit 310, the lower limit of the volume of data that should be managedby the data management unit 310, and a shared range of the setting data,as management information.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams illustrating examples of tables for the datamanagement application 300 to manage the above-described information foreach type of setting data. As shown in FIG. 4, the data managementapplication 300 manages the information of the types of setting data ina table format. “Current data volume” of FIG. 4 indicates the volume ofdata currently managed by the data management unit 310. “Upper limit” ofFIG. 4 indicates a limit value of the data volume, and particularlyindicates the upper limit of the volume of data that can be managed bythe data management unit 310. “Lower limit” of FIG. 4 is a limit valueof the data volume, and particularly indicates the lower limit of thevolume of data that should be managed by the data management unit 310.“Shared/individual” of FIG. 4 indicates the shared range of the settingdata, namely, “shared” indicates that the corresponding type of data isshared with another device and “individual” indicates that thecorresponding type of data is not shared with another device and isunique to the device.

Furthermore, the data management application 300 manages, as managementinformation for each type of setting data, the minimum value of theminimum required data volume for management of one digital multifunctionperipheral 110 and the maximum value of the data volume that can bestored by the digital multifunction peripheral 110. FIG. 5 is a diagramillustrating an example of the table for the data management application300 to manage the above-described information for each type of settingdata. As shown in FIG. 5, the data management application 300 managesthe information of the types of setting data in a table format. “Minimumvalue” of FIG. 5 indicates the minimum value of the minimum requireddata volume for management of one digital multifunction peripheral 110.“Maximum value” of FIG. 5 indicates the maximum value of the data volumethat can be stored by the digital multifunction peripheral 110. “−” ofFIG. 5 indicates that no fixed value has been set.

The tables shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are stored in, for example, the HDD205 or the RAM 203. Furthermore, the storage format is not limited tothe table format as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, and the storage may beperformed in another mode as long as the types of setting data areassociated with the information. The same applies to FIGS. 6, 8, 10 to14, 16, and 19, which will be described later.

“One-touch address book data”, “general address book data”,“administrator address book data”, and “user information data” of FIGS.4 and 5 can selectively be set to “shared” or “individual”. The data setto “shared” indicates that it is setting data shared by a plurality ofdigital multifunction peripherals 110. The data set to “individual”indicates that it is setting data individual to each digitalmultifunction peripheral 110 (setting data unique to the digitalmultifunction peripheral 110). Based on this selected state, the dataprocessing unit 304 determines whether to request the data managementunit 310 to hold the data for each digital multifunction peripheral 110individually, or to share the same data with a plurality of digitalmultifunction peripherals 110. If, for example, “one-touch address bookdata” is set to “shared”, the same data will be accessed even if aplurality of digital multifunction peripherals 110 are registered, andthus the volume of data for only one digital multifunction peripheralwill be secured. On the other hand, if “one-touch address book data” isset to “individual”, a volume of data that corresponds to the number ofthe registered digital multifunction peripherals 110 is secured.

Determination of Lower Limit in Initial State

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the table that indicatesa data volume management state for each type of setting data, in aninitial state in which no digital multifunction peripheral 110 isregistered in the server 120. The present embodiment describes, as anexample, a case where up to ten digital multifunction peripherals 110 tobe managed can be registered, and the maximum value of the volume ofdata that can be managed is 2048 MB. The items of FIG. 6 other than“shared/individual” indicate the data volume management state after theprocessing of FIG. 7 is executed.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of processing in which the data managementapplication 300 determines the data volume for each type of settingdata. In step S701, the control unit 302 of the data managementapplication 300 acquires the number of devices that can be registered inthe server 120 (registerable device count). Here, the control unit 302acquires “10”. In processing from steps S702 onward, processing isexecuted for obtaining the lower limits of the types of setting dataexcept for the personalized data.

In step S703, the control unit 302 focuses on a specific type of settingdata, and determines whether or not the specific type of setting datahas been set to be shared by a plurality of digital multifunctionperipherals 110. If it is determined that the specific type of settingdata has been set to be shared, the procedure moves to step S704,whereas if it is determined that the specific type of setting data hasnot been set to be shared, that is, the data has been set to beindividual, the procedure moves to step S706. For example, in the caseof the one-touch address book, the setting is “shared” as shown in FIG.6, and thus the procedure moves to S704.

In step S704, the control unit 302 acquires the maximum value of thesetting data with reference to the table of FIG. 5. For example, in thecase of the one-touch address book, the control unit 302 acquires “20MB” from the table of FIG. 5. In step S705, the control unit 302 setsthe maximum value acquired in step S704 as the lower limit. For example,in the case of the one-touch address book, the lower limit is set to “20MB” as shown in FIG. 6.

As described above, in the present embodiment, if the setting data isshared with another device, the maximum volume of the data that can beheld by the digital multifunction peripheral 110 is set as the lowerlimit of the volume of the data that should be stored by the datamanagement unit 310. As a result, the volume of the setting data thatcan be managed is ensured.

If it is determined in step S703 that the setting data is not set to“shared”, the procedure moves to step S706. The control unit 302acquires, in step S706, the maximum value and the minimum value of thesetting data with reference to the table of FIG. 5, and determines, instep S707, whether or not the maximum value is larger than the minimumvalue. Here, if it is determined that the maximum value is larger thanthe minimum value, the procedure moves to step S708, whereas if it isdetermined that the maximum value is not larger than the minimum value,the procedure moves to step S709. The case where the maximum value isnot larger than the minimum value refers to, for example, the case ofdevice basic data in which no maximum value is determined as shown inFIG. 5, and the control unit 302 cannot acquire the maximum value.Accordingly, in this case, it is determined in step S707 that themaximum value is not larger than the minimum value and the proceduremoves to step S709. In step S709, the control unit 302 multiplies theminimum value acquired in step S706 by the registerable device countacquired in step S701, and sets the obtained product as the lower limit.For example, in the case of the device basic data, the product “10 MB”obtained by multiplying the minimum value “1 MB” by the registerabledevice count “10” is set as the lower limit as shown in FIG. 6.

Furthermore, in the case of the device setting data for example, “5 MB”is acquired as the maximum value and “2 MB” is acquired as the minimumvalue as shown in FIG. 5. Then, it is determined in step S707 that themaximum value is larger than the minimum value, and the procedure movesto step S708. In step S708, the control unit 302 calculates the formula“the number of currently registered devices (currently registered devicecount)×the maximum value+the number of unregistered devices(unregistered device count)×the minimum value”. In this example, thecurrently registered device count is zero, and thus “20 MB” iscalculated based on “the unregistered device count 10×2 MB”, and is setas the lower limit of the device setting data as shown in FIG. 6.

Accordingly, with respect to the types of setting data that are not setto “shared”, a volume of data that is obtained by multiplying theminimum required data volume for managing one digital multifunctionperipheral by the number of registered devices is set as the lower limitof the volume of data that should be managed by the data management unit310. As a result, it is possible to prevent the data volume forunregistered digital multifunction peripherals from being unnecessarilysecured.

The above-described processing from steps S702 onward is performed foreach type of setting data, and the lower limit for each type of settingdata is set as shown in FIG. 6. In step S710, the control unit 302subtracts the sum of the lower limits of the respective types of settingdata obtained in previous steps from the entire volume of data, and setsthe value of the obtained result as the upper limit of the personalizeddata. For example, in the case of FIG. 6, the sum of the lower limits is“340 MB”, and thus the value “1708 MB” that is obtained by subtractingthe sum “340 MB” from the entire volume of data “2048 MB” is set as theupper limit of the personalized data. After step S710, the processing ofFIG. 7 ends.

Registration of Two Devices in Initial State

The following will describe processing for obtaining a data volume foreach type of setting data when two digital multifunction peripherals 110are registered in the initial state with reference to the flowchart ofFIG. 7. Differences from the above description of FIG. 7 will bedescribed taking the device setting data as an example. In the case ofthe device setting data, the control unit 302 determines in step S703that the data has not been set to “shared”, and acquires in step S706the maximum value “5 MB” and the minimum value “2 MB”. In step S707, itis determined that the maximum value “5 MB” is larger than the minimumvalue “2 MB”, and the procedure moves to step S708.

In step S708, the control unit 302 obtains a sum of the product obtainedby multiplying the maximum value “5 MB” by the currently registereddevice count “2” and the product obtained by multiplying the minimumvalue “2 MB” by the unregistered device count “8”, and sets the obtainedsum as the lower limit. In other words, in this example, “26 MB” is setas the lower limit of the device setting data as shown in FIG. 8.Furthermore, the upper limit of the personalized data is set to “1702MB” that is obtained by subtracting the sum of the lower limits “346 MB”from the entire data volume “2048 MB”.

By setting the lower limits in the above-described manner, the maximumvalue is taken into consideration even when device setting data is addedto the already registered digital multifunction peripheral, and thus thevolume of data that the data management application 300 can manage isensured. Furthermore, unnecessarily securing of the volume of devicesetting data of unregistered digital multifunction peripherals 110 ofwhich registration thereof is unclear is avoided, and only the minimumrequired volume of data for registration is secured. As a result, it ispossible to reduce the probability of an error occurring when a digitalmultifunction peripheral 110 is actually added and registered.

Setting Change of Shared Data to Individual

The following will describe processing that is performed by the datamanagement application 300 when the setting of the one-touch addressbook data is changed from “shared” to “individual” while theabove-described two digital multifunction peripherals are registered andoperating, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 9. It is assumed thatthe data volume for each type of setting data before execution of theprocessing is as shown in FIG. 10. In this example, the data volume “50MB” of the personalized data that is managed at this point in time isset as the lower limit of the volume of data that should be managed bythe data management unit 310.

In step S901, the control unit 302 of the data management application300 makes an inquiry to the data processing unit 304 as to the number ofcurrently registered devices. The data processing unit 304 acquires thenumber of registered digital multifunction peripherals 110 from the datamanagement unit 310, and transmits the registered digital multifunctionperipheral count “2” back to the control unit 302, for example.Furthermore, the control unit 302 acquires the registerable digitalmultifunction peripheral count “10”.

In step S902, the control unit 302 acquires the maximum value “20 MB”and the minimum value “10 MB” of the one-touch address book data whosesetting is to be changed to “individual” with reference to the table ofFIG. 5. In step S903, the control unit 302 obtains a lower limitcandidate for the one-touch address book using the values acquired insteps S901 and S902. In this example, the control unit 302 obtains, asthe lower limit candidate, “120 MB” based on the formula “the currentlyregistered device count 2×the maximum value 20 MB+the unregistereddevice count 8×the minimum value 10 MB”.

In step S904, the control unit 302 obtains the sum of the lower limitsof the types of data except for the personalized data using the lowerlimit candidate obtained in step S903, and sets, as an upper limitcandidate of the personalized data, the difference obtained bysubtracting the sum from the entire volume of data that can be managed.In other words, in this example, the lower limit of the one-touchaddress book is changed from “20 MB” to “120 MB”, and thus the upperlimit candidate of the personalized data is changed to “1602 MB”.

In step S905, the control unit 302 determines whether or not the upperlimit candidate obtained in step S904 is smaller than the lower limit ofthe personalized data. In this example, since the upper limit candidate1602 MB is larger than the lower limit 50 MB, it is determined that theupper limit candidate obtained in step S904 is not smaller than thelower limit of the personalized data, and the procedure moves to stepS906.

In step S906, the control unit 302 determines that the setting of theone-touch address book can be changed to “individual”, and requests thedata processing unit 304 to change the setting so that the one-touchaddress book data is subjected to individual management. The dataprocessing unit 304 makes a request to replication of the one-touchaddress book data managed by the data management unit 310 as many foldas the number of digital multifunction peripherals. The data managementunit 310 replicates the managed one-touch address book data as many foldas the number of registered devices (for example, two-fold). Afterreceiving a processing completion notification from the data processingunit 304, the control unit 302 sets the one-touch address book to“individual”, and changes the “lower limit” to “120 MB” that is thelower limit candidate obtained in step S903. After step S906, theprocessing of FIG. 9 ends.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the state after the processing of FIG. 9 isperformed in the state shown in FIG. 10. As shown in FIG. 11, the lowerlimit of the volume of the one-touch address book data that should bemanaged by the data management unit 310 is changed to 120 MB, and thesetting of “shared/individual” is changed to “individual”. Furthermore,the upper limit of the data volume of the personalized data that can bemanaged by the data management unit 310 is changed to 1602 MB.

Accordingly, in the present embodiment, when the lower limit of thesetting data is increased by changing the setting data set to “shared”to “individual”, it is determined whether or not the upper limit of thepersonalized data satisfies a predetermined condition. For example, asin step S905, it is determined whether or not the upper limit of thepersonalized data is lower than a predetermined threshold like the lowerlimit. That is, the setting of setting data is changed from “shared” to“individual” after checking as to whether or not the minimum data volumeof the personalized data has been secured even when the lower limit ofthe setting data is increased. Processing that is performed when, instep S905, the upper limit candidate is smaller than the lower limit ofthe personalized data will be described later.

Registration of Third Device

The following will describe, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 7,processing for updating the data volume for each type of setting data tobe managed by the control unit 302 when the setting of the one-touchaddress book is changed to “individual” and then a third digitalmultifunction peripheral is registered. The processing is different fromthe above description of FIG. 7 in that in step S703 of the processingfor obtaining the lower limit of the one-touch address book, thedetermination is “No”.

In the processing for obtaining the lower limit of the one-touch addressbook of FIG. 7, it is determined in step S703 that the setting is not“shared” and the procedure moves to step S706, and in step S706, thecontrol unit 302 acquires the minimum value “10 MB” and the maximumvalue “20 MB”. Then, in step S707, it is determined that the maximumvalue is larger than the minimum value, and the procedure moves to stepS708.

In step S708, the control unit 302 obtains, as a new lower limit, thesum “130 MB” of the product obtained by multiplying the maximum value“20 MB” by the registered device count “3” and the product obtained bymultiplying the minimum value “10 MB” by the unregistered device count“7”. In step S710, the upper limit of the personalized data is set to1589 MB, and then the processing of FIG. 7 ends. The data volume foreach type of setting data after the processing of FIG. 7 is updated asshown in FIG. 12. Note that in FIG. 12, the lower limit of the devicesetting data is set to “29 MB”. This is because, with respect to thedevice setting data, “29 MB” is obtained in step S708 based on theformula “the device count 3×5 MB+device count 7×2 MB”.

By obtaining the lower limit of the one-touch address book data asdescribed above, the maximum value is taken into consideration even whenone-touch address book data is added to a digital multifunctionperipheral, the volume of data that the data management application 300can manage is ensured.

Warning Processing in Step S907 of FIG. 9

The following will describe processing that is performed when thesetting of the general address book data is changed to “individual” andwhen the setting of an administrator address book is changed to“individual” in a state in which the personalized data is managed tosome extent with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 9. Here, it isassumed that the current data volume of the personalized data is “750MB” when a request for a change to “individual” is accepted by the datamanagement application 300. Upon accepting the request to change thesetting of the general address book data to “individual”, the controlunit 302 acquires, in step S901, the currently registered device countand the registerable device count. Here, the control unit 302 acquiresthe currently registered device count “3” and the registerable devicecount “10”.

In step S902, the control unit 302 acquires the maximum value “160 MB”and the minimum value “80 MB” of the general address book with referenceto the table of FIG. 5. In step S903, the control unit 302 obtains thelower limit candidate “1040 MB” based on the sum of the product obtainedby multiplying the maximum value “160 MB” by the registered device count“3” and the product of the minimum value “80 MB” by the unregistereddevice count “7”. In step S904, the control unit 302 obtains the upperlimit candidate “709 MB” of the personalized data by subtracting the sumof the lower limits from the entire volume “2048 MB” of data that can bemanaged. FIG. 13 shows a diagram showing the state of the presentexample in which the upper limit candidate for the personalized data isobtained.

In step S905, the control unit 302 determines that the upper limitcandidate “709 MB” is smaller than the current lower limit “750 MB” ofthe personalized data. In step S907, the control unit 302 determinesthat the setting of the general address book data cannot be changed to“individual”, and performs error notification processing for notifying auser of the fact that the setting cannot be changed. In the errornotification processing, the control unit 302 causes the operation unit220 to display a warning message indicating that the setting of thegeneral address book data cannot be changed to “individual”. Then, thecontrol unit 302 restricts the setting operation for changing thesetting of the general address book to “individual”, and ends theprocessing of FIG. 9.

Upon accepting a request to change the setting of the administratoraddress book data to “individual”, the control unit 302 acquires, instep S902, the maximum value “20 MB” and the minimum value “10 MB” ofthe administrator address book. The control unit 302 obtains the lowerlimit candidate “130 MB” in step S903, and obtains the upper limitcandidate “1479 MB” of the personalized data in step S904. In step S905,it is determined that the upper limit candidate “1479 MB” is larger thanthe lower limit “750 MB”, and the procedure moves to step S906. In stepS906, the control unit 302 requests the data processing unit 304 tochange the setting of the administrator address book data to“individual”. After execution of the change to “individual”, the datavolume for each type of setting data is updated as shown in FIG. 14.

As described above, control is performed such that the management stateis not changed when it is presumed that setting data cannot be managedduring the subsequent operation. In other words, when it is presumedthat the minimum volume of the personalized data cannot be securedduring subsequent operation, the setting of the setting data is notchanged to “individual”. As a result, it is possible to prevent an errorfrom occurring during operation.

In the present embodiment, a description has been given taking anexample in which the management state of the setting data is changedfrom “shared” to “individual”, but the same processing may be executedwhen, for example, the volume of the setting data that is managed by thedata management application 300 is increased. As a result, it ispossible to determine in advance whether or not a certain type ofsetting data cannot be managed and an error will occur during operationonce the volume of the setting data is increased, thus making itpossible to prevent the error from occurring.

Second Embodiment

The present embodiment describes a case in which the lower limit of thepersonalized data is controlled. In the first embodiment, the upperlimit of the personalized data is controlled based on the number ofregistered digital multifunction peripherals 110 and the managementstate of setting data. As a result, it is possible to prevent a failureto change the settings of the digital multifunction peripheral 110 dueto too much personalized data being registered. In the presentembodiment, a configuration for preventing a failure in which an actualuser no longer performs registration due to the upper limit of thepersonalized data being excessively lowered will further be described.

Hereinafter, differences from the first embodiment regarding theprocessing of FIG. 7 in which the data management application 300obtains the data volume for each type of setting data will be described.In the present embodiment, after step S710 of FIG. 7, processing of FIG.15 is executed.

The control unit 302 of the data management application 300 sets theupper limit of the personalized data in step S710, and then executesstep S1501 of FIG. 15. In step S1501, the control unit 302 acquires anestimation value of the number of users who use one digitalmultifunction peripheral 110. This value may be statically held by thecontrol unit 302 or may be obtained based on the actual usage state. Inthis example, for example, the control unit 302 is assumed to acquire“100” as the number of users who use one digital multifunctionperipheral.

Then, in step S1502, the control unit 302 acquires the minimum value“0.5 MB” of the personalized data with reference to the table of FIG. 5.In step S1503, the control unit 302 obtains the lower limit “50 MB” ofthe personalized data of each digital multifunction peripheral based onthe product of the values obtained in steps S1501 and S1502. Then, thecontrol unit 302 obtains the lower limit “100 MB” of the personalizeddata based on the device count “2”, which is the number of currentlyregistered digital multifunction peripherals 110.

In step S1504, the control unit 302 compares the lower limit “100 MB”obtained in step S1503 with the upper limit obtained in step S710, anddetermines whether or not the upper limit is larger than the lowerlimit. Here, if it is determined that the upper limit is larger than thelower limit, processing of FIG. 15 ends. On the other hand, if it isdetermined that the upper limit is not larger than the lower limit, thecontrol unit 302 executes, in step S1505, the error notificationprocessing for performing notification with a warning message indicatingthat registration of personalized data may be impossible, and then theprocessing of FIG. 15 ends. In the example of FIG. 8 of the firstembodiment in which two digital multifunction peripherals areregistered, it is determined in step S1504 that the upper limit islarger, and as shown in FIG. 16, the lower limit of the personalizeddata is set to “100 MB”.

As described above, when a digital multifunction peripheral 110 is addedto the system 10 and it is expected that the number of users who are touse the digital multifunction peripherals 110 will increase in thefuture, the lower limit is increased in advance even when no useractually uses the digital multifunction peripheral 110 to registerpersonalized data. As a result, it is possible to secure the volume ofthe personalized data that can be managed. Furthermore, if it isestimated that the lower limit exceeds the upper limit, a user will bewarned of the fact, and thus it is possible to prevent an error fromoccurring due to the user actually configuring the settings of thepersonalized data.

Third Embodiment

The present embodiment describes a case in which system operationwhereby the data management application 300 manages the setting data ofthe digital multifunction peripheral 110 is temporarily stopped, andthen the management of the setting data by the data managementapplication 300 is again started.

The present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in thatprocessing for updating the maximum number of the registered digitalmultifunction peripherals 110 is performed in the processing of FIG. 7for obtaining the data volume for each type of setting data. After aregisterable device count is acquired in step S701 of FIG. 7, thecontrol unit 302 executes the processing shown in FIG. 17.

In step S1701, the control unit 302 makes an inquiry to the dataprocessing unit 304 as to the number of currently registered devices,and acquires the number of the registered digital multifunctionperipherals 110. In step S1702, the control unit 302 makes an inquiry tothe data processing unit 304 as to the maximum number of digitalmultifunction peripherals 110 registered in the past (past maximumregistered device count). The data processing unit 304 acquiresinformation on the past maximum registered device count that isregistered in the data management unit 310, and transmits the acquiredinformation back to the control unit 302.

In step S1703, the control unit 302 determines whether or not theregistered device count acquired in step S1701 is larger than the pastmaximum registered device count acquired in step S1702. Here, if it isdetermined that the currently registered device count is larger than thepast maximum registered device count, the procedure moves to step S1704.

In step S1704, the control unit 302 requests the data processing unit304 to update the maximum registered device count to the currentlyregistered device count. The data processing unit 304 requests themanagement unit 310 to update the information on the past maximumregistered device count, and transmits the result back to the controlunit 302. After the processing of S1704, the processing of FIG. 17 ends,and the processing returns to step S702 of FIG. 7.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1703 that the pastmaximum registered device count is larger, the procedure moves to stepS1705. In step S1705, the control unit 302 determines whether or not thenumber of registered digital multifunction peripherals 110 acquired instep S1701 is zero. If it is determined that the number of devices isnot zero, the procedure of FIG. 17 ends, and returns to step S702 ofFIG. 7. If it is determined in step S1705 that the number of devices iszero, the control unit 302 executes the processing of FIGS. 18A and 18B.

In step S1801, the control unit 302 subtracts the past maximumregistered device count from the registerable device count, and acquiresthe minimum unregistered device count. For example, if the past maximumregistered device count is “3”, the control unit 302 subtracts themaximum registered device count “3” from the registerable device count“10” to obtain the minimum unregistered device count “7”. In theprocessing from steps S1802 onward, similar to step S702 of FIG. 7, thelower limits of the types of setting data except for the personalizeddata are obtained.

Steps S1803 to S1807, and S1809 are the same as the steps S703 to S707,and S709. In step S1808, the control unit 302 obtains a sum of theproduct obtained by multiplying the maximum value by the past maximumregistered device count “3” obtained in step S1702 and the productobtained by multiplying the minimum value by the minimum unregistereddevice count obtained in step S1801, and sets the obtained sum as thelower limit.

In step S1810, similar to step S1501, the control unit 302 acquires theNUMBER OF USERS FOR ONE device, and in step S1811, the control unit 302acquires the minimum value of the personalized data.

In step S1812, the control unit 302 obtains the lower limit “50 MB” ofthe personalized data for one digital multifunction peripheral based onthe product of the values specified in steps S1810 and S1811. Then, thecontrol unit 302 obtains the lower limit “150 MB” of the personalizeddata based on the past maximum registered device count “3”.

In step S1813, the control unit 302 determines whether or not the sum ofthe lower limits of all of the types of setting data is larger than theentire volume of data that can be managed. Here, if it is determinedthat the sum of the lower limits is larger than the entire volume ofdata that can be managed, the control unit 302 executes, in step S1814,the error notification processing for performing notification with awarning message, and then ends the processing of FIGS. 18A and 18B. Onthe other hand, if it is determined in step S1813 that the sum of thelower limits is not lager than the volume of data that can be managed,the procedure returns to step S702 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data volume of thetypes of setting data that are obtained such that system operation istemporarily stopped after the state of FIG. 12 in the first embodiment(three devices are connected and the setting of the one-touch addressbook is set to “individual”), the setting of the general address book ischanged to “individual”, and then system operation is started again. Asshown in FIG. 19, the one-touch address book and the general addressbook are set to “individual”. Accordingly, in step S1808, the sum of theproduct obtained by multiplying the maximum value by the past maximumregistered device count “3” obtained in step S1702 and the productobtained by multiplying the minimum value by the minimum unregistereddevice count “7” obtained in step S1801 is set as the lower limit. “130MB” is set as the lower limit of the one-touch address book since it hasthe maximum value “20 MB” and the minimum value “10 MB”. Furthermore,“1040 MB” is set as the lower limit of the general address book since ithas the maximum value “160 MB” and the minimum value “80 MB”. The value“150 MB” obtained in step S1811 is set as the minimum value of thepersonalized data. The difference “709 MB” obtained by subtracting thesum of the lower limits of the device basic data to the user informationdata from “2048 MB” is set as the maximum value for the personalizeddata. Furthermore, the sum of the lower limits of the personalized datato the user information data is 1489 MB, and thus in step S1813, it isdetermined that the sum of the lower limits is not larger than theentire volume of data that can be managed.

As described above, in a state in which new setting data is managed,such as when a function of the data management application 300 is addedor when a digital multifunction peripheral 110 is replaced with a newdevice, it is possible to check in advance whether or not all of thedigital multifunction peripherals 110 can be registered again. Forexample, in a case of an increase in setting data that is handled by thedata management application 300, the sum of the lower limits may exceedthe entire volume of data that can be managed. In such a case, bywarning a user of the possibility that an error will occur duringoperation if the setting remains as is, it is possible to review thesetting before starting the operation.

OTHER EMBODIMENTS

Embodiment(s) of the present invention can also be realized by acomputer of a system or device that reads out and executes computerexecutable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on astorage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform thefunctions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/orthat includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or moreof the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by thecomputer of the system or device by, for example, reading out andexecuting the computer executable instructions from the storage mediumto perform the functions of one or more of the above-describedembodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform thefunctions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). Thecomputer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processingunit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network ofseparate computers or separate processors to read out and execute thecomputer executable instructions. The computer executable instructionsmay be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or thestorage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or moreof a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM),a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as acompact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc(BD)′M), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.

While the present invention has been described with reference toexemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of thefollowing claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as toencompass all such modifications and equivalent structures andfunctions.

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No.2015-131843, filed Jun. 30, 2015, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

What is claimed is:
 1. A management apparatus for managing a device,comprising: a storage unit configured to store setting data for use inthe device to be managed; an acquisition unit configured to acquiremanagement information relating to the setting data, the managementinformation being associated with each type of the setting data; and acontrol unit configured to control, for each type of the setting data, alimit value for a volume of the data to be stored in the storage unitbased on the management information acquired by the acquisition unit. 2.The management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the managementinformation includes information indicating whether the setting data issetting data to be used only for the device or setting data to be sharedby a plurality of devices.
 3. The management apparatus according toclaim 2, wherein in a case where the management information indicatesthat the setting data is setting data to be used only for the device,the control unit determines, based on a first volume that is defined foreach type of the setting data, the limit value for the volume of thedata to be stored in the storage unit.
 4. The management apparatusaccording to claim 3, wherein the control unit determines, as the limitvalue for the volume of the data to be stored in the storage unit, a sumof a product obtained by multiplying a second volume by the number ofdevices managed by the management apparatus, and a product obtained bymultiplying the first volume by the number of other devices that can bemanaged by the management apparatus, the second volume being larger thanthe first volume.
 5. The management apparatus according to claim 4,wherein in a case where the management information indicates that thesetting data is setting data to be shared by a plurality of devices, thecontrol unit determines the limit value for the volume of the data to bestored in the storage unit based on the second volume.
 6. The managementapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines afirst limit value for a first type of setting data in the storage unitbased on the management information acquired by the acquisition unit,and a second limit value for a second type of setting data in thestorage unit based on the determined first limit value.
 7. Themanagement apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the first type ofsetting data is setting data associated with a device that is to bemanaged by the management apparatus, the second type of setting data isdata associated with a user of the device that is to be managed by themanagement apparatus, and the control unit determines the second limitvalue by subtracting the first limit value from a volume of data thatcan be managed by the management apparatus.
 8. The management apparatusaccording to claim 6, further comprising: a determination unitconfigured to determine whether or not the first or second limit valuedetermined by the control unit meets a predetermined condition, and anotification unit configured to perform notification with a warningmessage in a case where it is determined by the determination unit thatthe first or second limit value meets the predetermined condition. 9.The management apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the predeterminedcondition is a condition in which the second limit value is smaller thana threshold when setting data to be shared by a plurality of devices ischanged to setting data to be used only for the device.
 10. Themanagement apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising, arestricting unit configured to restrict the change of the setting datawhen the notification unit performs notification with the warningmessage.
 11. A control method that is executed in a management apparatusprovided with a storage unit configured to store setting data for use ina device to be managed, comprising: acquiring management informationrelating to the setting data, the management information beingassociated with each type of the setting data; and controlling, for eachtype of the setting data, a limit value for a volume of the data to bestored in the storage unit based on the management information acquiredin the acquiring.
 12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstoring a program for causing a computer to execute; storing settingdata for use in a device to be managed in a storage unit; acquiringmanagement information relating to the setting data, the managementinformation being associated with each type of the setting data; andcontrolling, for each type of the setting data, a limit value for avolume of the data to be stored in the storage unit based on theacquired management information.
 13. A system including a device and amanagement apparatus configured to manage the device, the systemcomprising: a storage unit configured to store setting data for use inthe device to be managed; an acquisition unit configured to acquiremanagement information relating to the setting data, the managementinformation being associated with each type of the setting data; and acontrol unit configured to control, for each type of the setting data, alimit value for a volume of the data to be stored in the storage unitbased on the management information acquired by the acquisition unit.